Piers Courage

Want another anecdote from that weekend? Not about racing, but what the hell.

That was when music was worth listening to, and Woodstock was happening at that time. More significantly, man made his first landing on the moon the very next day. We were on our way home, and stopped at the last pub in England on the A68 just south of Carter Bar so that we could listen to live transmission of the Apollo 11 landing late on the Sunday night. The TV was on in the bar covering the event. There was a group of people playing at some game in the adjacent room, possibly darts.

Neil and Buzz had separated from the Command Module and were dropping towards the moon's surface. I noticed there was a guy sitting at a table in the bar reading a newspaper. The darts players noisily played on. The tension rose as the intrepid astronauts headed into the unknown. More exciting than Rindt at Monaco 1970, and almost as good as that clandestine video of Pamela Anderson. Alarms went off in the LEM signifying possible doom. A darts players stuck his head around the door to request that the sound be turned down. Put me off darts more than Jocky what's-is-name Fatbelly ever could. The Lunar Module touched down, engine off, silence from the TV for a few seconds. I noticed that the newspaper reader sitting there never even looked up from his paper. He was totally oblivious to what was going on. Man's greatest moment, and the cretin hadn't a clue. No doubt the darts cretins were just as oblivious.

Somewhat amused by the two extremes of humanity experienced in that bar we got back into our Beetle and headed back to the true centre of the Universe, Dundee itself. There were four hours to go before Neil and Buzz went for a walk and a long overdue crap behind a convenient moon rock. Buzz had decided by then that he would take no pictures of Neil on the moon - - the bastard had jumped the queue to be first on the surface.

Now of course I know it didn't actually happen. We saw pre-recorded half-speed takes from the Mohave desert, with additional effects from the best of Hollywood. I wonder - did these guys at the bar know that instinctively, and was I the bigger fool?

I was in the grandstands near the start and we could just see Copse. There were several overtaking manouvres at Copse where one would overtake the other but by the time they were back at Woodcote the order was as per the previous lap. I would be more inclined to accept Stewart's recollection of "dozens" of overtakes.

I haven't watched it myself so I won't comment, but there is a full broadcast of the race from French TV floating around that would confirm or dispell the myth. ITV's broadcast that was shown in part on ESPN Classic (see jj2728's link in his post) starts somewhere around halfway so I don't think gives the whole picture of the race. Although the ESPN Classic show was great to watch when I first saw it, (I thought any film or TV footage of the race was long gone) it doesn't really match the stories written about the race that I have read over the years, when referring to Stewart and Rindt's battle.

I've seen the french broadcast, it's pretty much focused on the lead battle throughout. There aren't dozens' of passing manoeuvres, the tv captures the three that the autosport lapchart records. there are a number of 'feints', although not that close, and not at copse. there are a few gaps in the lead battle, most of them during the phase when stewart drops back when they are lapping backmarkers, he is still several seconds behind when we rejoin the lead battle. so its difficult to reconcile the tv evidence with what people seem to remember...

Jeroen, Are the golf club going to allow it to be around the Hondenvlak / Tunel Ost area or will it be within the confines of the modern circuit ?

I've never seen the point in the latter since I believe a memorial should stand where the person fell ( even though the one at Peronne for Bouriat and Trintignant is very impressive )

I am with you on that. That part of the circuit always had a different feel about it, and that is where the memorial belongs. The damage was done much earlier of course, when the Zandvoort track was mutilated beyond recognition by shortening it.

However, the memorial will be close to the entrance of the circuit (South) and revealed at 12:30 on Aug 30th.

I no longer have a copy but remember enjoying it. I think the chapters alternate between those written by Leon Mandel, whose style grated with me, and those by Peter himself which I found very interesting. (Sorry, this is all OT in a Piers Courage thread! I may as well recommend Adam Cooper's book on Piers while I'm here; wonderful from start to finish.)